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Have you ever wished you could eat a rainbow? Does the sight of vivaciously vivid colours extending across the sky make you practically salivate at the mouth? No? So I am the only person who wants to eat de Blob then…
de Blob, the latest and dare I say greatest Wii platformer from THQ brings what started as a free PC game developed in Germany to the Wii, with near-perfect graphics and gameplay to boot. The Blue Tongue-developed effort features a simple premise: control a jiggly, gelatinous, paint-splattering ball around stylised monochromatic worlds and restore colour to the structures and inhabitants one splash and splotch of ink at a time. Sound like fun? It most certainly is.
de Blob (being a platformer) starts out with a single-player story, where the goal is to complete the given objectives to restore colour to the surrounding world. In this single-player campaign, there are many different areas of the de Blob world to explore and bring to life through colour, and completing the objectives, though sometimes similar, never seem to grow old.
This is your brain on drugs
Through the first half of the game, though, the challenges are largely straightforward. Simple. Perhaps even designed to be enjoyed by all types of gamers. Entertaining yes, but not always incredibly hard. During the latter half of the roughly 10+ hour game, (of which there are 10 enormous stages and dozens of sub-missions) you start to see some more difficult, colour-based hurdles. For example, a series of blocks piled atop each other, all of which must be painted different colours. Somehow, you have to figure out a way to paint them in the correct order lest you accidentally colour a block yellow that’s supposed to be purple. It’s exactly these types of puzzles that really get you thinking, and, frankly, I wish there were more of them in the game – the difficulty really takes shape as you’re stuck thinking about the best method to tackle a puzzle even as a countdown timer looms in the corner of the screen.
I just don't get modern architecture...
And apart from the Story, you can hit up the Free Paint part of the game, where you can just jump around as you please, colouring the black, white and grey world into more appeasing colours.
And of course, there’s the two player mode, which lets you enjoy de Blob’s charms with a friend, cousin, or uncle twice removed.
In summation, de Blob is one of the best third-party efforts to come over to the Wii’s side of the fence in a long time. This is a fun, stylised 3D platformer that oozes atmosphere and shines with amazingly slick presentation and polish. All of the gameplay mechanics work very well, the challenges are enjoyable and there’s even good comedy peppered between the stages comprising the adequate 10+ hour experience.
If you’re a Wii owner and are in desperate need of some real Wii games, I strongly recommend that you support this calibre of third-party effort so that we begin to see more games like this.
By Matthew Williams.
Graphics: A
Contrast between the monochromatic cities and the colourful main character who drenches them in bright primary colours is perfect.
Sound: A-
Funkalicious (did I just say that?) soundtrack that’ll have you groovin’ and paintin’ in no time.
Gameplay: A
Incredibly fun, but there’s still room to grow. Mostly intuitive controls and enjoyable challenges.
Overall: A
Spectacular. Ultra-slick menus, gorgeous pre-rendered cinemas, a host of unlockables, excellent visuals and dynamic in-game music. Really well done.
